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The Man Picked up by the Gods - Volume 4 Chapter 5: Tour 1
TL Note: Here's the first extra chapter of the week! Thank you so much to all the donators!
Name Change: (More accurate) Perle Bekentein -> Perdre Bekentein.
Also is there a specific word for someone who tries to pull customers into their store?
Volume 4 Chapter 5: Tour 1
The Next Day
I woke up at the Rimel Bird's cry. As I stood up from my bed, I rubbed my eyes. And when I got down, I stretched my body.
"Guu... Fuu. Alright. I have to prepare." [Ryouma]
I washed my face, and woke myself up. Then I went to make myself a quick meal with the help of my mimic slime. My breakfast for today is bread with peach-like jam and fried bacon. On the side, there's cheese and herb salad. And then for my drinks, there's goat milk.
The mimic slime before me skillfully handled the knife and fork. From the outside, it really looked like a human. Thinking of the time when it couldn't walk really brings me back... At first, it couldn't walk properly. It wasn't until a few weeks after it first transformed into me that it finally learned how to move on its own. But even then, that was just a crawl. It took several more months after that before it was finally able to walk and graduate from a babe to an adult.
But after that, I found out that I could train the mimic slime faster with the use of Sensory Link, so its growth sped up from then on. Sensory Link allowed me to find out which parts it was having a hard time emulating, so I could focus on the parts that needed to be focused on when training it, allowing it to learn faster.
After that, I used Sensory Link to train and confirm the things the mimic slime could do, and I found out that on top of being able to walk and run, it can now also fight. It could also help out in cooking, woodworking, and smithing with no problem. Unfortunately, it's still not able to talk, but if it could, then it would really become indistinguishable from humans.
After eating, I dressed myself, and then left the house. As I ran, I used Dimension Magic to reach the town. Along the way, something caught my attention.
"This place has changed a lot too..." [Ryouma]
What got my attention was the surrounding scenery that had changed much since the time when I trained with Elia. If I were to give an example, then I suppose the landscape of the mountain of the abandoned mine and the patch connecting it to Gimuru were the biggest changes.
First off is the landscape. 2 years ago there were plenty of rocks, but right now, aside from the road I and my slimes use, everything else is covered in plants or weeds. There are now also thickets of various kind of bamboos growing near the entrance of the mine.
If you're wondering why that happened, it's because Gayn and the other gods wished for it, so I made it happen.
Because of the treatment of the demon king's influence that required me to visit them once a week and the feast we would have each time I did, the number of opportunities there were for me to talk with them increased... And as a result I also ended up hearing a lot of the back talks of the gods.
One of the things talked about was regarding the close relationship between nature and the mechanism set by the gods that creates magic power. Putting it simply, the more nature there are, the higher the efficiency of the magic power created by the world. Conversely, if nature were to be destroyed, then the amount created would lessen. There they told me it would help them out a lot if I could grow something at the mine's mountain.
Although it's something they said while drunk, I asked Pioro-san about bamboos the preceding day. Incidentally, I managed to ask the god of farming, Grimp, whether bamboos would grow since they have strong vitality. And since he gave his approval, I decided to try growing them.
After deciding how far I'm comfortable with the bamboo thicket growing, I buried some iron plate into the ground, and created a sturdy wall to create a boundary. It took quite a bit of effort, but bamboo does have a lot of avenues, and Gayn and the others would be happy, so I think the effort was worth it.
I built pavements for roads in order to exhaust my magic power, and increase my maximum magic power, so while it wasn't necessary for me to build the roads, I didn't do a half-assed job of it either. Because the pavements I made for roads were based on the roads from Earth, I inclined the roads, and dug a gutter at the sides to provide a place for the rain water to flow to. Because of that the road I made ended up being fairly well done.
My store and this road that I made caught the eye of the architect, Perdre Bekentein, so he asked me to become his subordinate. I politely refused his offer.
Incidentally, Perdre Bekentein is a young man who has only reached his latter twenties, so he's quite fierce and self-absorbed. And although he wasn't what I would call humble, he does praise people when they deserve to be praised. He was also a skilled architect, so his subordinates had much faith in him.
When I refused his offer, he actually told me to contact him whenever I felt like, and then immediately withdrew. We could also talk lightly with each other whenever we happened upon each other in town. His character might be a bit strong, but he's not a bad person...
"Oh, I've arrived." [Ryouma]
Caught up in my own thoughts, before I knew it, I was right in front of Gimuru's northern gate. As expected, using dimension magic makes travel quick. Thanks to it the distance from my house to the gate actually felt like a 10-minute walk from my house in my previous life to a nearby train station.
As I slowed myself down, I took out my adventurer guild card from my chest, and called out to the gatekeeper. I showed my proof of identity because of the rules, but actually, in these past three years, I could already pass by with just my face as proof.
Nothing particular happened as I did, so I just passed through the gate as usual, and went over to Elia's inn.
The inn Elia and the others were staying at was situated at the center most area of the town near the adventurer and merchant guilds. Because of that a lot of people recognized me, and I had to greet them back as I walked.
"Ah, good morning, Sebasu-san." [Ryouma]
"Good morning, Ryouma-sama. Ojousama and the others will soon finish their preparations, so please wait for a while." [Sebasu]
Said Sebasu-san who was preparing a coverless carriage in front of the inn. But just as he was telling me that, the door to the lodging opened, and Elia's friend, Michelle-san, stepped out.
"Ah, Ryouma-kun, good morning. So you were here already. Did we make you wait?" [Michelle]
"Good morning, Michelle-san. I just got here actually." [Ryouma]
"I see. Well, Elia and the others will come soon." [Michelle]
Just as she said, not even a minute passed before Elia and the others stepped out of the inn. However, the clothes they were wearing today was a little different compared to yesterday. Their clothes were made of good fabric, and they were all wearing jeweled silver accessories. Elia wore a hair clip, Kanan, a bracelet, Riera, a pair of earrings, and Miyabi, a ring.
Well they are young girls of age, so I suppose wanting to doll up is normal. Anyway, I better say hi.
"It seems you're all wearing clothes different from yesterday. Especially the accessories." {Ryouma}
"Oh, right. This is your first time seeing these, huh?" [Miyabi]
"We removed our accessories during the trip because we thought it might cause us to be targeted." [Michelle]
Michelle-san's accessory was a pendant hidden within her clothes. Since she went out of her way to bring it out, and show me, I took a good look. There, I noticed that all of their accessories had the same flower emblem engraved into it.
The engraved flower was a collection of thin and long petals. If one were to look above it, the flower would appear to be round. Look from the side, and the tip of the petals could be seen to be rounded, running along the stems, making the flower appear to be an inverted triangle. This flower is known as Tertos. It has seven different color variations, but is also a medicinal ingredient. It's because of that that I'm privy to it.
"This is the flower of Tertos, right?... That's amazing... It's been engraved so well. The jewel inlayed at the center is also beautiful." [Ryouma]
My frank comment was met with Elia's smile.
"These accessories are something Kanan made herself after we formed our group." [Elia]
I alternately looked between the accessory and Kanan-san upon hearing that. Then I said,
"Kanan-san, you're amazing." [Ryouma]
Those were the only words that came out, but those alone were enough to leave Kanan in a blush as she laughed and waved her hands.
"Y-You're praising me too much... The thing is I haven't been making anything else aside from magic tools, so it actually took me a lot of time to figure out how to make these. Also... I've always liked the flower, Tertos, so I've had plenty of practice engraving it." [Kanan]
She doesn't seem to be used to praise. Still... she sure seems happy. Her face has completely melted into a grin, and being from the dog tribe, her tail's wagging like crazy. With that small figure of hers at 150cm, she sure looks like a puppy.
By the way, I can also engrave. The iron weights I'm using for training are bracelet-types. Apparently, Tekun wasn't very happy with them, saying "If you're going to make a bracelet, then you might as well be able to do it properly, and make some ornaments." Because of that I had to learn the basics of engraving.
However, the most I could make are cheap stuff that wouldn't sell for much. It's a far cry from Kanan-san's quality.
Should I take this opportunity to practice my engraving skills? As I was thinking that, I rode the carriage with Elia and the others, and headed for the second town. We're supposed to go straight to the arena, and watch some matches, but for some reason, Elia wouldn't stay put.
"Elia, is there something wrong?" [Ryouma]
"Everything's changed so much in these past 3 years, so I can't help but be curious." [Elia]
"Yeah, well as the second town neared completion, there were also stores that moved there. As a result, the town's changed a lot. Even the manager of the lodging we stayed at before has changed in these past three years." [Ryouma]
"Really?" [Elia]
"There are more people in the new town, allowing better chances of profit. Because of that inns, weapon stores, and armor shops, relocated themselves there. There were also a number of stores selling ingredients that moved... Ah, for the record, I'm not saying that the first town is being deserted. It's just that people who will fight in the arena will have to stay for an extended period over at the second town. Moreover, there's also the fight money. So there are a lot of people who decided to make money off of that. In exchange, there are more houses relocating themselves in the first town in place of the stores. Thanks to that, there are a lot of construction left to be done." [Ryouma]
Elia became somewhat relieved upon hearing my words. Though at the same time, an expression of anxiety also showed on her face. But following up on it a bit more, it appears she's at least relieved. What I said wasn't a lie, so it's all cool. But more than anything, I'd prefer it if she just enjoys herself without thinking too much.
The carriage left the southern gate as we were talking, and finally, the gate of the second town entered our vision.
"This is the new town, Gimuru 2. To match with the first town, this new town was built with town 1 in mind, giving it a long elliptical shape extending from the south to the north. The gates of the two towns are 400 meters apart, so the southern road is able to effectively connect the middle of the two towns." [Ryouma]
After that we passed through the gates of the second town, and we headed toward the arena. However, unlike with the first town, Elia and the others were quite surprised.
The buildings in the second town were made in the same way as the first, but the roads were all gaudily decorated. There was also a great crowd of tourists crowding the streets.
"The capital still has more people, but this place sure is lively." [Riera]
"This town was built specifically for commerce after all. If it weren't lively, it would be troubling. Aside from the arena, there are also souvenir shops, playgrounds, brothels, and other various stores... There's enough to accommodate 40, 000 people." [Ryouma]
"If we get lost, it'll be a problem, so we be better to take care." [Michelle]
People and carriages alike littered the second town, causing the carriages to slow into a walk. Due to that we were chased after by many of the peddlers and many of the clerks, asking us to take a look at their wares or store. It wasn't until fifteen minutes later before we finally arrived at the stop for carriages provided by the arena.
The arena was situated at the center of the second town. It had four floors, two of which were below the ground, and two of which were above. From the outside, it looked like a shrunken ellipsis.
When I first heard of an arena, the first thing that came to my mind was the image of a colosseum that I had learned in my student days, but this one's a bit different. First off, the exterior of the building that's a made out of stone has windows attached to them. Each of the window frames has a transparent glass affixed to them, allowing light to enter. Moreover, over the roof of the arena were statues of warriors dressed in armor, wielding all sorts of weapons from bows to swords, to axes, to spears, to magic staves... all sorts.
Inside the arena, the first and second floors had the painting of warriors painted over one side of the walls. There were also statues furnished here and there, but relatively speaking, the design simple. According to the architect, Perdre Bekentein, making the place the customers should enter needed to be emphasized.
Conversely, the basement floors that's only used by the staff and the contestants are a bit more complicated.
"Good work, everyone. This is our destination. Considered the heart of the city, even in the sense of commerce, welcome to the are--"[Ryouma]
"WaAAAAAA!!"
Oh? Did someone's match end? I've come here many times before, but every time I come here, I can't help but be impressed at how amazing noise and cheers are.
"Looks like the matches have started already. Let's go.. , . Oh, right." [Ryouma]
Suddenly remembering something, I asked Elia and her friends for a favor.
"Sorry for suddenly bringing this up, but I'd like to ask you guys a favor." [Ryouma]
"What is it?" [Miyabi]
"Actually, I have a store here in the arena. It's a store that sells food for spectators to eat as they watch the matches. So I'd like to ask you all to buy from it, and tell me how it's doing." [Ryouma]
"I don't mind, but wouldn't it be better to ask the people in charge how the store's doing." [Elia]
"Yes, but I'd like to know the opinion of a customer buying as well as the normal behavior of the employees. There's a lot of new hires right now, so if I personally checked up on them, they'd stiffen up." [Ryouma]
It's what you would call mystery shopping. After I told them I wasn't able to check up on the store since I went around subjugating bandits, leading me to think of now as a good opportunity, Miyabi-san was immediately able to come to terms with it and agreed. The other four also didn't have any problems, so they agreed too. Because of that it was decided that I would be the one covering the expenses they would spend at my store.
As we decided that, we paid the entrance fee, and entered the arena. Inside, there were two stairs at the left and right, extending upwards and downwards. The participating contestants have to go down the stairs.
At the front, there's the bulletin board recording the details of the gambles made and the schedule for the matches. Beside that is a ticket window. Should one want to gamble, he or she would have to pay through that ticket window, and then receive proof that he or she has made a bet. If that person wins, then he or she can take the proof to the ticket window, and receive her dividend.
I think I've pretty much explained everything there is about the arena.
"Any questions?" [Ryouma]
No else had any questions when I asked that. Incidentally, no one gambled either.
"Ryouma-kun, do you gamble?" [Michelle]
"No. I don't gamble either." [Ryouma]
Even though back in my previous life, I thought of trying it out if ever I had money to burn. But now that I have the money, I realized, I'm not really that interested. I have gambled several times, but it wasn't fun whether I won or not. Well I think it's better than getting addicted to gambling, and ruining one's health though.
After that, I told the girls the locations of the store. After that, we split, and I headed to the seats by myself. I've already told them the place, and there are 6 shadow slimes lurking in their shadows, so there shouldn't be any problem. If they take too much time, I can just go and look for them.
"Now then... Let's do our best and look for a good se-- woah!" [Ryouma]
The centermost front row is free! Get 'em!
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